The Characteristics of Sanctification Theory Appeared in John Wesley"s Sermon on the Beatitudes

The Characteristics of Sanctification Theory Appeared in John Wesley"s Sermon on the Beatitudes

The purpose of this paper began with my motivation to correct the modern misunderstanding of sanctification. For this study, I reviewed Wesley"s emphasis on the content of sanctification through the Beatitudes sermon. In the Beatitudes sermon, Wesley stressed three aspects of sanctification theory. To this end, I first outlined the characteristics of Wesley"s theory of sanctification, the contents of which are as follows; Wesley viewed the state of sanctification as a "relationship" with God or "motivation" or "intention" within humans, and an important characteristic of the experience of instantaneousness of sanctification is that it is made possible by faith. And Wesley saw that this sanctification goes beyond the individual level and spreads to the whole society. The main contents and structure of Wesley"s Sermon on the Mount are as follows; Part 1 dealt with the sermon on the Beatitudes, Chapter 5 of Matthew, and Part 2 is based on Chapter 6 of Matthew, and in the previous chapter, I emphasized inner purity in doing righteousness, same as inner holiness. Part 3 is Chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, which specifically presented the factors that interfered with maintaining this sanctification. In particular, I dealt with Wesley"s sermons 1-3, which correspond to the Beatitudes, which can be said to be a summary of the Sermon on the Mount, from the point of view of sanctification. In the next chapter of this paper, the writer suggested the following three characteristics in Wesley"s Beatitudes sermon as a solution to today"s various distorted beliefs about holiness; 1) The sanctification that the Bible says is not a sanctification of outward but of inward, which is a thorough circumcision of one"s inner self before God. 2) The power of true sanctification is not a hermitic piety, but a social sanctification that always bears fruit not a sanctification of seclusive but of social in the neighborhood and society. 3) This sanctification is awakened not through the subjectivity of man himself, but in the encounter with the infinite God and the neighbor as the other. The three characteristics of sanctification mentioned above in Wesley"s Beatitudes sermon are the core of the theory of sanctification that penetrates the entire Old and New Testaments, not just the Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, all Christian leaders and believers are required to have a correct understanding of the three characteristics of the sanctification theory in Wesley"s Beatitudes sermon for the church and society that are confused and wandering today without finding the true value of holiness.

The purpose of this paper began with my motivation to correct the modern misunderstanding of sanctification. For this study, I reviewed Wesley"s emphasis on the content of sanctification through the Beatitudes sermon. In the Beatitudes sermon, Wesley stressed three aspects of sanctification theory. To this end, I first outlined the characteristics of Wesley"s theory of sanctification, the contents of which are as follows; Wesley viewed the state of sanctification as a "relationship" with God or "motivation" or "intention" within humans, and an important characteristic of the experience of instantaneousness of sanctification is that it is made possible by faith. And Wesley saw that this sanctification goes beyond the individual level and spreads to the whole society. The main contents and structure of Wesley"s Sermon on the Mount are as follows; Part 1 dealt with the sermon on the Beatitudes, Chapter 5 of Matthew, and Part 2 is based on Chapter 6 of Matthew, and in the previous chapter, I emphasized inner purity in doing righteousness, same as inner holiness. Part 3 is Chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, which specifically presented the factors that interfered with maintaining this sanctification. In particular, I dealt with Wesley"s sermons 1-3, which correspond to the Beatitudes, which can be said to be a summary of the Sermon on the Mount, from the point of view of sanctification. In the next chapter of this paper, the writer suggested the following three characteristics in Wesley"s Beatitudes sermon as a solution to today"s various distorted beliefs about holiness; 1) The sanctification that the Bible says is not a sanctification of outward but of inward, which is a thorough circumcision of one"s inner self before God. 2) The power of true sanctification is not a hermitic piety, but a social sanctification that always bears fruit not a sanctification of seclusive but of social in the neighborhood and society. 3) This sanctification is awakened not through the subjectivity of man himself, but in the encounter with the infinite God and the neighbor as the other. The three characteristics of sanctification mentioned above in Wesley"s Beatitudes sermon are the core of the theory of sanctification that penetrates the entire Old and New Testaments, not just the Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, all Christian leaders and believers are required to have a correct understanding of the three characteristics of the sanctification theory in Wesley"s Beatitudes sermon for the church and society that are confused and wandering today without finding the true value of holiness.